Photo/Illutration The Osaka District Court in Osaka’s Kita Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

OSAKA–The parents of a 17-year-old boy who killed himself after being caught cheating on an exam at a private high school here have sued the school, claiming that its harsh punishment caused their son’s death.

The parents filed a lawsuit against Seifu Gakuen, the operator of the prestigious school, on April 8 at the Osaka District Court, seeking approximately 100 million yen ($658,000) in damages.

According to the lawsuit, the boy, who was a sophomore at Seifu High School in the city’s Tennoji Ward, was caught cheating on an end-of-the-term exam in December 2021.

Teachers took the student to a separate room and reprimanded him by calling his act dishonest. Additionally, he was given a zero on all his subjects, suspended from school for eight days and ordered to copy 80 volumes of Buddhist sutras and write a letter of apology.

Two days later, the boy was found dead near his home.

The lawsuit alleges that the Buddhist school repeatedly emphasized to students that cheating is a serious offense involving dishonesty. The boy's parents claim this instilled a deep fear in their son of being humiliated within the school community.

The parents further accuse the school of failing to safeguard their son by assigning him an excessive amount of disciplinary work, which overwhelmed him emotionally and ultimately contributed to his tragic death.

The couple also criticized a third-party investigative committee set up by the school that denied a causal relationship between the school's actions and the suicide.

They said that the committee's conclusion was unreliable because the investigation lacked a broader survey of students that could have shed light on the circumstances surrounding their son's death.

The school has said that it cannot comment because it has not yet received the lawsuit.

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